The Missing Years
by ebonbon
Summary: Set the morning after Harry defeats Voldemort. Follows the trio and Ginny over their next moves. DH compliant. T for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

The Missing Years

A/N: This is my first story so be kind but critical in reviews! Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Harry woke up to sharp repeating pain on his forehead. At first he rolled over drowsily but when it continued, he started to freak out. He shot up and grabbed his wand and pointed it at the person standing beside his bed. They were all blurry since he didn't have his glasses on but he could tell that they had a mass of red hair.

"Sorry about this Harry," said a familiar voice.

Harry lowered his wand and reached over for his glasses on the nightstand. He put them on and Bill Weasley slowly came into view.

"Sorry about that Bill," Harry said with a yawn.

"Nah, its fine. Mum sent me up here to check on you again. She's getting really worried about you guys."

"Uh oh, why?"

Bill chuckled, "It might have something to do with the fact that you've been sleeping for about 36 hours."

"What?" He couldn't believe it had actually been that long. It seemed like he had just gone to sleep.

"It's fine. Ron and Hermione are still sleeping too. I figure you guys need it but you know Mum, she thinks you are getting hungry."

Harry's stomach rumbled and they both chuckled. "She knows me well."

"Well before you go devour all the food in the Great Hall, will you help me wake up Ron?"

"I think you're going to need all the help you can get," he smiled.

Twenty painful minutes later and Ron was awake and they were both dressed for the day. Bill was standing at the door waiting. "Well, are you coming?" Harry and Ron looked at each other with apprehension in their eyes until Ron finally spoke up. "Is the whole family down there?" Bill looked out the door to the common room. "Everyone except Ginny. She must still be in there with Hermione."

Ron looked at Harry and gave him a look that clearly said that he didn't want to go down there. "Are they waiting to question us about where we've been?" Harry asked.

"Hell yes. If you don't want to give answers I advise you to propel out the window." Bill chuckled.

"Let's do it mate. Have you got some rope?" Ron asked with a fire in his crystal blue eyes. Bill was silently laughing by the door.

"We can't leave Hermione to fend for herself, Ron"

"Can you do that talking patronus thing and send her a message? Then she can do the same!" Harry laughed. "I can try. Expecto Patronum." A stag shot out of Harry's wand stood before him. "To Hermione. Ron and I are jumping out the window so we don't have to talk to anybody. You are welcome to join us." The stag nodded his head and soared out the window. Ron sprinted to the ledge and watched it fly into the girls' dormitory. A few minutes later an otter came rushing into the room and spoke with Hermione's voice. "Ginny and I are coming with you. See you on the ground." Ron smiled and jumped to his feet with a crazy smile. "Let's go."

"Can you buy us some time Bill? How about an hour?"

"I can only guarantee half an hour, but I can strive for an hour."

"Thank you so much Bill, we owe you one" Ron said.

"Yes you do little brother, and I intend to collect someday" Bill winked at them and walked out the door.

"Alright, let's go"

Harry and Ron ran, and very plainly, jumped out the window. As soon as they did Harry realized the flaw in that plan, they had no way to stop. Ron had evidently realized that too because he started screaming bloody murder. Just when Harry thought they were done for they slowed down to graceful fall and landed on their feet. They were both looking frantically around for their savior and saw Hermione standing a couple hundred feet away with Ginny and her wand outstretched at them and a smirk on her face.

"Um thanks," Ron said awkwardly.

"Anytime," Hermione said as Harry and Ron started towards them. The four of them walked in silence the rest of the way to the great oak front doors which were standing ajar. The remnants of the battle were still strewn everywhere; there were statues turned over, paintings torn off walls, while scorch and blood marks were staining the wall. They stood there in awe for a second, staring at the wreckage of the battle. "Wow," said Hermione softly. Harry wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she squeezed his waist and laid her head on his chest. They didn't even realize that Ginny was glaring at them, but Ron did. He cleared his throat.

"I don't think it's a mealtime. We're going to have to go down to the kitchens and ask the elves for some food." They all mumbled agreements and turned to walk down the steps to the basement. Hermione lifted her head off Harry's chest but kept her arm around his waist and his was still around her shoulders. Ron knew better than to think anything of it but Ginny obviously didn't. She was walking down the stairs glaring at the floor like it had insulted her.

Harry reached up and tickled the pear and walked into the kitchens. He saw Kreacher and waved to him and he waved back but he was very busy with some steak so he didn't go over to talk to him. They asked for some food and five or six elves came rushing back with large platters of all of Ron's favorites. They thanked the elves and left. They sat down on some benches outside the kitchen and started dishing up.

"They were so brave fighting for us. I wonder how many died," Hermione said with a tear in her eye. Harry was sitting next to her so he put his arm around her shoulders again and kissed her forehead. "Don't think about that right now, just relax and eat." Ginny couldn't handle it anymore and she burst into tears. They both looked up at her confusedly and she stood up and started walking away.

"I'll handle this mate." Ron got up and walked over to Ginny who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You need to stop crying right now."

Ginny turned to him with a look of disgust on her face. "Excuse me?"She said with contempt.

"They aren't together."

"OF COURSE THEY ARE! HE JUST KISSED HER! ARE YOU REALLY THAT STUPID?"

Harry and Hermione looked up at them with identical shocked expressions.

"You're the stupid one!" Ron rolled his eyes. "Great job shouting that out. I was trying to do you and keep it from them that you thought they were together. But oh well, you ruined that one. Harry and Hermione are brother and sister. They are best friends and super close but they don't think of each other romantically at all." He sighed. "Look I ditched them while we were running around together." Ginny stopped crying for a second and started to glare at him.

"You did WHAT?" She screamed.

"Yeah, I ditched them. I was so in love with Hermione and I thought that they liked each other and I couldn't handle it. I left them begging for me to come back. It almost ruined my life. When I finally found them again, I saw Harry first. He swore up and down that they were never together and they don't want to be. He loves her, but he loves her like a sister. He feels about Hermione what I feel about you. That completely innocent, sometimes overprotective sibling love. He would do anything for her, but he's in love with you. Once I got back and had my head cleared, it became very obvious that they didn't like each other. Now calm down. I'm going to sit down again and eat, you pull yourself together and come back when you can." Ron kissed the top of her head and walked back to the table.

"I hope you talked some sense into her Ron," Hermione said sternly.

"Yeah, I did. You guys could at least help the situation and get your arms off each other."

Harry and Hermione slowly moved away from each other. As soon as they had a couple inches between them Ginny sat back down at the table. She didn't look up at Harry and Hermione but just ate. The trio followed her lead and ate lunch in silence. They eventually finished, with the trio eating twice as much as Ginny, and gave the dishes back to the elves.

"Well, now what?" Ron asked.

"I don't exactly fancy returning to the common room. Maybe we can lay low in the library? No one will expect us to be in there…" Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's a fantastic idea Harry!" Hermione beamed. Ron groaned.

The journeyed down the corridors to find a pleasant surprise waiting for them in the library. It was Neville and Luna.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"_Harry!_ Blimey, you're ok!" Neville exclaimed, running to him to hug him.

Harry chuckled, "It's good to see you too, Neville." Neville pulled them all into big hug.

"I know you're probably in here to avoid telling people what happened, but I was wondering if you could it was so important to kill Nagini?"

Harry sighed, "I owe you that Neville. Here let's go sit down in the corner, I don't want everyone to come rushing over." The six walked over to the farthest table that was tucked in an alcove around a corner. Hermione didn't even know it was there until their fourth year. They circled around the table and waited for Harry to start.

"Ok, so first of all, do you know what a Horcrux is?"

"The Carrows mentioned them a few time in Dark Arts, but they never really explained what they were besides 'a soul holder'." Luna said dreamily.

"That's exactly what it is. What you do is commit an act so unspeakable that it tears your soul apart. You can then encase it in an object. The pain of it can kill someone, but it makes you immortal if you survive. Voldemort did that. He created seven Horcruxes. The first one we found was Tom's old diary. The one that tried to kill Ginny in our second year. The only way to destroy them is hurt them beyond magical repair. I stabbed the diary with a basilisk fang in the Chamber."

Hermione chimed in. "Basilisk venom only has one antidote which is phoenix tears. So the diary was destroyed beyond repair."

Ron stepped in for the next part. "The second one was an old family ring. He killed his family and took the ring and made it a Horcrux while he was still in school. Dumbledore tracked it down and destroyed it with the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Harry stabbed the basilisk with the sword down in the Chamber of Secrets. The sword was goblin made, so that kind of metal only imbibes what strengthens it. So the sword was impregnated with basilisk venom, which made it able to kill Horcruxes."

"The third one we found was Salazar Slytherin's locket. Ron stabbed it with the sword while we were on the run." Hermione added.

"The fourth one was the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. That's what we broke into Gringotts for. Wow, that was just the other night." Harry was lost in thought for a moment before he continued. "It was in Bellatrix's vault. Hermione stabbed it with a basilisk fang when we arrived here the other night. She and Ron went down into the Chamber to get a fang because we lost the sword, but that's a whole other story."

"That slimy git. I'm glad he lost the sword to us in the end." Ron smiled with glee over Griphook's loss. "I hated him in case you two didn't realize." Harry laughed, "Me too, Ron"

"Anyway," Hermione said frowning, " I destroyed that one and the fifth Horcurx was the diadem of Ravenclaw. That's why we were asking if anyone knew about it. Harry talked to the Gray Lady and she gave Harry enough information to figure out where it was. We found it in the Room of Requirement only we didn't get to kill it. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle showed up and tried to kill us. Crabbe used a charm called Fiendfyre. It's a sort of charmed fire. If it gets out of hand, it can be deadly to anyone touched by it. Fiendfyre is also one of the substances that can control Horcruxes. We had the diadem with us when it started. We found some old brooms, rescued Malfoy and Crabbe, and got out. But the Fiendfyre touched the Horcrux and destroyed it. It also killed Crabbe."

"I'm not too worked up over that one either."

"RON!" Hermione said, with shock on her face.

"He tried to do us in Hermione! He was using Unforgivable Curses! I'm sorry, but even when we were running for our lives for so long we never used an Unforgivable Curse. Anyone that would use a curse like that deserves to be punished. Crabbe's punishment was just a little more severe."

"That's still not very honorable." Hermione said, though she looked like she was starting to agree.

"I agree with both of you, but it's time to move on. The sixth Horcrux was Nagini, Neville. Voldemort turned her into a Horcrux. That's why I told you to kill the snake when I saw you that night. I was walking to the forest to surrender and I needed someone else that knew that the snake needed to be killed. We just got lucky that you decided to use the sword. That was brilliant swordsmanship by the way. And that brings us to the seventh Horcrux. I was the Horcrux that he never meant to make. His soul was so unstable when he came to kill me and my mother's sacrifice was too strong. To destroy me, Tom had to kill me himself. That's why I went into the forest. I was trying to defeat him with my own death. I knew that Ron and Hermione knew what was happening and what needed to be done so I tried to die but it didn't work. I survived, but he had destroyed his own soul by trying to kill me again. Then in the hall, when I went after him again, I only needed the part of his soul that was in his body. For reasons even more complicated, his wand didn't work because it belonged to me, and his curse rebounded and killed him instead."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Neville was staring at Harry with his mouth hanging open and Luna was switching her wide eyed stares between the three of them. Ginny, however, had tears in her eyes. She was the first to speak. "You three were so brave."

They smiled. "Thanks Gin." Said Ron. "Saying it all out like that, it makes it sound so much better than it actually was. We had no clue what we were doing the whole time. At least half of that was luck."

"I told you," Harry said with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, I guess I finally believe you." There was silence after that.

"So…" Neville said. "Now what?"

"We live our lives in peace." Harry said with a smile in his voice.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Harry and the others stayed in the library for awhile after they finished talking. They didn't want everyone to come running up congratulating them. They were still mourning their losses and didn't really want to be disturbed. It was nice to have Neville and Luna there with them. They didn't seem so alone anymore. Hermione had curled up in the corner with a book and the rest of them were playing Exploding Snap in the corner. They had had to cast the Muffliato charm, but it helped them not be seen too. But, after a couple of hours basically doing nothing, they really needed to go.

"I'm starving!" Ron said, rubbing his stomach.

"It's five thirty, dinner starts soon." Said Neville. "Do you guys want to go to the Great Hall for dinner? I know Dean and Seamus are anxious to see you guys, it's been a lonely year."

"I guess. We're going to have to face everyone sooner or later. It will make life easier if we just do it now. I am just dreading telling our story so many times."

"Yeah, I agree with Harry. I mean to you guys, I don't mind. You were a part of it and you deserve to know how you helped. But everyone else…" Hermione reasoned. She had a scared look on her face.

"Well, let's just get it over with." Ron said, and headed towards the main part of the library.

The next few hours were all about the "Golden Trio". They were ambushed outside the Hall by Seamus and Dean, and they stood out there and told them the story. They were late because of it, but they also found it a little helpful. They had only told Neville and Luna about the Horcruxes, so they got to hear the rest of the story when they were telling Dean and Seamus. Then when they sat down, Lavender, Parvati, and Padma sat around them and they wanted to hear the story. Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Luna were sitting around them as well and they helped them tell the story. They were surprised how true they were staying to it. Usually their stories got a little out of hand but this particular story ended up being exciting enough. Then just as they were leaving the Great Hall,

"YOU!" They stopped dead. They knew that voice.

"YOU JUMPED OUT OF A WINDOW?" Yep, it was Mrs. Weasley. They slowly turned around to face her wrath, except, there wasn't one. She didn't even look mad. "Why?"

The four of them looked at each other. This was not expected. Ron started stumbling over his words.

"We… um… yeah… we wanted… um…"

"Why didn't you come talk to us? We have been waiting to see you for almost a year." She almost looked ready to cry.

"We weren't ready to see you." Hermione piped up. "We really needed some time to figure out for ourselves what was really happening. And to figure out what we needed to do now." She looked at Ron and smiled, then turned back to Mrs. Weasley. "But, we're ready now." Ron grabbed her hand and Harry took Ginny's and started walking.

They followed Mrs. Weasley up to the Grffindor common room where the rest of the Weasleys were sitting.

"So, I see she found you. Are you ready to tell us what the hell just happened?" Mr. Weasley said with a stern look on his face.

He decided right then and there that he was ready to tell them. They stood by him and cared for him like a true family. They deserved the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. "Yes, we are." Harry said with a slight smile. And tell the truth he did.

A/N I'm so sorry to the people that I told that this chapter would be up yesterday. I finished it put didn't completely upload it and I didn't realize that until I logged on today and it wasn't there. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me? 3


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